16 and Schoolless
by InterdimensionalHitchhiker84
Summary: Azalea is a fairly average witch. At least she would be if her extraordinarily picky and powerful father didn't keep bouncing her from school to school. The year is 2012 and despite the fact that this is her sixth school, not counting home school, she's hopeful that at Hogwarts, she will finally find what she's been looking for.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer (this applies to all chapters): I do not own the Harry Potter franchise or any part of it. Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Professor Flitwick, Professor Vector, Professor Longbottom, Teddy Lupin, and any other Harry Potter characters you see in this story belong to the author of the original series, JK Rowling, as does Hogwarts. However, I would like to point out that due to the passage of time and the destruction of the castle, the layout and size of said building and even grounds may be different from what is seen in the original books and movies. _

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Her first day at Hogwarts! When she was a kid, Azalea never would have believed that _she_ would attend that famous school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, her childhood had not gone exactly according to plan at any turn, or in any respect. Azalea began her magical education at the age of 10, not at eleven like the children in Britain, and she attended the most prestigious of the American academies. For six months that is.

Mr. Cartwright (Azalea's father) was in the unique position of being the only traveling representative of the American Magical Agency (AMA (as you may or may not notice, AMA, like MOM (Ministry of Magic) but better, is symmetrical) I apologize. I seem to have fallen right off the track.). In this capacity, he traveled quite a lot, but more importantly, he was an extremely influential and also a rather demanding wizard. His children would have only the best. It was for this reason that whenever Mr. Cartwright found whatever he considered to be the slightest flaw in a school, Azalea (and previously each of her brothers) was transferred to another one. Azalea had attended more magical schools than any other student including Beuxbatons Academy, two Japanese schools, a small place in Italy, and a well-respected German institute. Her parents had also employed several private tutors. It had taken quite a bit of fancy maneuvering, even for Mr. Cartwright, to get Azalea enrolled in Hogwarts. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

It was January 18th, 2012—a Wednesday. It was snowing outside the windows of the German castle, piling up against the buildings. There was a bit of a hustle as students were trying to get out of their dorms and down to breakfast without dropping their books and homework and things for the day's lessons. Mittens do not aid in the holding of books, especially when the fingers are nearly numb from cold anyway, so many of the student's were having little success. Azalea was having the least luck of all due to the fact that unlike the other girls, who traveled in mobs of their friends, she was alone. It is, after all, much easier for a pack of dogs to trample a kitten than for a kitten to trample a whole pack of dogs. On the other side of the castle, Carson was not having similar troubles. Unlike his sister, he made friends easily, despite being moved around so much. Azalea sometimes wished she had his talent, but worked better alone than in a group anyways, so normally recovered from these feelings rather quickly.

Despite her difficulties, Azalea finally managed to get down to the dining hall for a few bites of toast before rushing to her first class. She was only a few minutes late, but she got looks of dislike from many of her classmates. If any of them had arrived when she had, they would have gotten detention, but she got special treatment because of her father. No headmaster wanted to be on his bad side. She would have rather have had the detention than those looks, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. It was second period when something really happened.

A first-year entered the room looking very nervous, handing a small scroll to Professor Haeffner. "Well?" he asked expectantly.

"It's from the headmaster sir," he squeaked out. The professor nodded and the student scurried away as he unrolled the note.

"Miss Cartwright?" Azalea looked up suddenly and Professor Haeffner continued, "Ah yes. Your presence is required in the headmaster's office," there was silence and everyone was still, staring at Azalea. "Off you go!"

Azalea jumped up, and hurriedly grabbing her things, left the room in a state of panic. She made her way to the headmaster's office as quickly as she could, but was basically petrified with fear and chill. What could he want? Had something happened? Was she in trouble? When she reached the office door, she took several deep breaths and attempted to knock, but was stopped by fear. The door swung open anyway.

Inside the office, the headmaster was seated behind his desk, her father sat across from him, and Carson stood to one side. Her heart sunk. Not again!

To sum up, Azalea was pulled out of school. Carson however, refused. It was his last year of school and he simply wouldn't budge. She spent the rest of the school year at their family home in South Carolina with her mother and a new tutor. Needless to say, she wasn't happy, but she soon would be.

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_So there's the first chapter! Tell me what you think! I'd be glad of any suggestions or comments. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Chapter 2

She honestly didn't know how her father had done it. No transfer student had ever been accepted into Hogwarts before, but on July 27th, that policy changed. Azalea didn't actually know where they were going. She had assumed that it was going to be some sort of snooty French school. Boy, was she surprised when she and her father popped into Hogsmead! They were wearing muggle clothing, of course. They didn't want to be conspicuous when traveling, because even if most of it was apparition and the floo network, something could always come up. She suddenly felt out of place; wearing a sun dress in a place like Hogsmead just didn't seem quite right.

It was quite a walk to the castle, but the little town was picturesque and the castle grounds were fantastic, so it definitely could have been worse. As they approached the castle doors, she let her hair out of the loose ponytail it had been held in and shook it out before taking a hairpin from her bag and using it to secure the tangled auburn mess in a nice-looking twist. She knew the drill—make a good impression or it's another semester of home school.

As the castle doors swung wide in front of them, their patronus guide, which had been in the form of a cat, disappeared. Mr. Cartwright stepped through the doors looking as if this was something he did every day. Or every year at least, but no amount of preparation and confidence can prepare a man to meet his first half-giant (not when that preparation has nothing to do with half-giants anyway). They were a few steps into an enormous entryway when the man appeared. The was twice the height of Mr. Cartwright and at least three times as wide and his face was almost entirely obscured by copious amounts of grey hair.

"Righto then!" said the large man. "You must be the Cartwrights! Call me Hagrid. Professor McGonagall sent me to meet ye."

Recovering quickly, Mr. Cartwright straightened his tie and replied, "Yes, of course. We're very pleased to meet you, Mr. Hagrid." Azalea just stood with her mouth agape till her father pushed her along. They followed Hagrid down the corridor to the left until they reached a pair of gargoyles guarding a doorway. With the password, a spiral moving staircase was revealed and they stepped onto it to be carried up. Azalea actually got rather dizzy.

Hagrid knocked on the door at the top of the stairs and was quickly invited in to meet the headmistress. She was a rather severe looking woman, but Azalea had seen much worse in Japan. She wore Emerald robes and the hair pulled back to a knot at the back of her head was of varying shades of grey, streaked with white. She looked them both up and down then invited them to sit. Azalea couldn't help but stare around at the portraits hanging all round the circular office. Most of their inhabitants seemed to be napping, but this was certainly not uncommon of paintings.

It was soon down to business. "Mr. Cartwright, you have made a highly unusual request. I'm afraid I simply cannot fathom why Miss Azalea here need start school at such a late age. May I ask what has occurred?"

And so Mr. Cartwright explained. He explained that only the very best was good enough for his children—children who already have enough to cope with, what with the situation of him being away and unavailable most of the time. The least he could do, he continued, was make sure they get the best home possible while preparing them for great success later in life. When McGonagall still appeared skeptical, he tried a different angle. Everyone involved can only be helped by free cultural exchange. This was an enormous opportunity, not only for his child, but for all those she came in contact with to gain a better understanding of different cultures and different aspects of humanity.

"I see very little difference, Mr. Cartwright, between this culture and the one she was previously immersed in. There are the issues of language of course, but magical communities have all evolved in much the same way."

Seeing little success from his normal methods, he began to grasp at straws. "She's a good student Professor. She maintains high grades and does well on exams, and I think you'll find her to be rather well-behaved as well." Professor McGonagall looked to Azalea for confirmation and, having received it, turned back to the girl's father.

"I fail to see what relevance this all has sir, to the present situation. I believe it is now time to hear what your daughter has to say about all this. Well, Miss Cartwright?"

Azalea wasn't sure what to say. She looked to her father, but received no aid there. Gulping slightly, she started, "Professor, this is a truly wonderful school. Quite honestly, I wish I weren't bounced around so much, but Father only wants me to have my best chance in life. And since I must find a new school, I would love it to be one such as this, where I can dedicate myself to study and prepare for my life ahead. I would like to be armed with every advantage when it comes time to face the challenges of life, and I think studying at what is possibly the greatest of all wizarding schools would certainly be an advantage."

"Well put," replied McGonagall. "Nearly rehearsed."

"It wasn't! I swear, I just want to go to a good school and be let alone so I can actually learn something in order and find some kind of a home!"

"Very well," said McGonagall. "Term starts September 1st. You will receive an owl with a supply list." She began to take some notes on a scrap of parchment and continued, looking up, "what is your age?"

Over the next half hour, it was finally sorted out that if she worked hard, Azalea could join the sixth year class. A strange tattered old hat determined that she would be in a house called "Ravenclaw" and she got all of her classes selected. She'd be taking Potions, Charms, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Maybe she'd finally make some friends or sort of fit in somewhere. Azalea couldn't wait for the term to start!

However, McGonagall wasn't quite done. "You will not be taking the Hogwarts Express with the other students. You will use the floo network to get to the ministry, and from there you will be escorted to my office. I expect you to be here sharply at noon, Miss Cartwright. I'm sure Professor Flitwick will have much to discuss with you. Good day to you both."


	3. Chapter 3

Within a few days, she had indeed received a packet of information, lists, and instructions from Hogwarts by owl. There was quite a lot to get, but going to Diagon alley was the most fun she had had with her mother in years. They purchased quills and parchment, textbooks, ink, potion ingredients, and other odds and ends in the many shops and she also got her uniform robes and other clothing items. The most interesting thing of all was Gringotts. Getting an account set up so she could access her money while in Britain was rather dull, but the bank itself was extremely fascinating. The architecture was beautiful, and thoroughly impressive, and the goblins were interesting to watch. They made faces as they worked with customers and went about their business. They measured jewels and sorted coins, and did all sorts of things. Azalea always liked to watch magical creatures because they did everything slightly different from how humans would do it.

They entered many of the shops just to look around. The beautiful birds hooted in the Owls Emporium and there were lots of funny-looking instruments in many of the shop windows. The wands in one window were, Azalea noticed, designed differently from the ones in America, with funny little carved designs around the handles. Most of them were also rather short.

Tomorrow, Azalea would be going to Hogwarts. She couldn't be more pleased. As she packed her trunk with neatly folded robes, stacks of books, socks, shoes, roles of parchment, notebooks, and bottles of ink, she couldn't help thinking that despite the pronounced 'back in time' feel of the school, it was going to be her best year yet. Pencils, pens, erasers, sticky notes, and her mp3 player soon found their way into the trunk. In America, magical schools weren't so against muggle materials and she simply could not take notes with a quill. The mp3 player might not work at first, but with time, Azalea was sure she could fiddle with it enough to get it to do something. Drawing pads were dropped in next, followed by a pile of jeans, T-shirts, and all the cute muggle clothes she wore during the summer and winter vacations. Her cauldron, scales, and broomstick went in and so did her box of measuring tools, her boxes of wand and broom care supplies, and her toiletries, including a whole school year's worth of contacts. As she set in her jewelry box and threw in her empty book bag, she couldn't help but admire the effects of the extension charm she had used to enhance the effects of the original lining.

Keepsakes went in last and Azalea closed the lid, sitting down on the bed next to her cat, X. When she'd gotten X as a kitten, the name had been an amusing joke. He'd had a tendency to pee on everything and the phrase 'X marks the spot' inherited a double-meaning. Thankfully, he no longer did this.

She picked up her alarm clock and carefully set it to wake her at 4 o'clock the next morning. Floo powder was a rather quick form of travel, but she was also crossing time zones. Setting down the clock, she picked up the wand that had been sitting next to it, turning it over in her hands. She'd gotten it when she was eleven, after she broke the one her father had originally got for her. It had been redwood and the only reason she'd gotten it was because it was rumored to provide luck. This was in actuality entirely false and it wasn't suited to her at all. It was really sad that it took breaking the thing for her parents to see that. This wand was different though. It was perfect for her—like and extension of herself. It didn't always cooperate of course, but eventually it adapted to whatever new kind of magic she was learning and she could move forward. The only details on this stick were the swirly lines she's carved into the base with a pen a few years ago and the rest of it was mostly strait and natural. The dragon heartstring seemed to hum as she wiped off the fingerprints with the edge of her shirt and the silver lime shined as the sun streaming in from the window hit the wood's surface. Hopefully, tomorrow would be the start of a good year.


	4. Chapter 4

And here we are again: her first day at Hogwarts!

Aaaeeee Aaaeeee Aaaeeee Aaaeeee pow!bang! oomf!

Azalea hit the alarm clock with her pillow and promptly fell out of bed. Then she fell asleep again. Aaaeeee Aaaeeee Bang! Aaahh! But now she was awake. Sitting up and rubbing her head, Azalea looked around groggily. Spotting her trunk, she realized all at once what the day was and why she was up so early. She clumsily scrambled to her feet, accompanied by several more oomfs bangs and ouches. Stumbling into the bathroom, she pulled off her pajamas and got into the shower. The splash of water shocked her into waking up properly and within the next half hour she was washed and dressed with contacts in, make-up on, hair done, and an excited smile smeared across her face. Finally, the day could begin!

That wasn't to say Azalea wasn't nervous though. Of course she was, but for the moment, her excitement overwhelmed her anxiety. Within the next hour, Azalea threw her alarm clock, toothbrush and pajamas into the trunk, fed X and placed him in his cat cage, and fed herself.

"OK Mom, I'm ready!" Azalea jumped down the last few steps and floated her trunk down to the floor in the entryway before stashing her wand in her boot and going into the kitchen. Sitting down in a stool by the counter she put her elbows on the counter and asked, "So do you know when Dad will be ready to leave?"

"In a few minutes. He's talking to the president about your floo route."

"Okay." Azalea spun around just in time to see Molli come into the room with a tea platter. "Good morning Molli!"

"Good morning Miss!" Molli bowed deeply and gave Azalea a large smile which she returned wholeheartedly. She was going to miss the house elf while she was gone, but she missed Molli every time she went away and she always got through it.

Her musings were interrupted when her father walked in looking rather frazzled and running his free hand through his hair. "Ready to go Dad?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes, of course."

"Is everything OK?"

"Uh-huh. Just a meeting after we get you to school. Nothing for you to worry about." Mr. Cartwright then grabbed a piece of toast, pecked his wife on the cheek and repositioned the briefcase under his arm, grabbing a sip of tea just as he strided towards the other door. He responded to the house elf's greeting with a nod and looking back at his daughter asked, "Coming?"

She hopped down off the stool and started to follow her father.

"Now wait just a minute," said Mrs. Cartwright authoritatively. She walked out to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up, "Carson! James! You're sister is leaving! Now get your lazy bums out of bed!"

There was a significant amount of barely audible groaning then two distinctive cracks as Azalea's two youngest brothers appeared in front of her.

They both looked reproachfully at their mother than said goodbye and hugged their sister before apparating back up the stairs. Mrs. Cartwright looked up at the ceiling and scowled before turning back to Azalea and smiling sadly. "I'll miss you flower."

"I'll miss you too Mom. I'll write every week."

Mrs. Cartwright hugger her tightly and replied, "Well you don't have to write quite that often if you don't want to. Travel safely." Releasing each other, they both looked toward Mr. Cartwright who was taping his foot impatiently and glancing at his watch.

"Are we done yet? We're late."

"Yes Dear. Take our daughter away now if you must." The sarcasm was almost palpable.

"Good." Mr. Cartwright then walked past his wife and into the sitting room to throw some floo powder into the fireplace which he had just lit. Azalea hugged her mother one last time and took her wand out of her boot. Floating her trunk and X's cat cage ahead of her, she followed her father.

Mrs. Cartwright turned back into the kitchen leaving her husband and daughter alone. "Okay," said Mr. Cartwright, "you know the rules. Once we leave the house, your special privileges no longer apply so no magic. Just put the wand away." Obediently, but resentfully, Azalea lowered her things to the ground and put her wand back into her boot. Her father looked at her as if her were about to question the location, but decided not to say anything about it. Instead, he handed her his briefcase and took his own wand out of the special inside pocket of his suit jacket. He levitated the trunk and cage into the fireplace and said clearly, "President's office, American Agency of Magic." The flames turned green and the luggage zipped away. "You next." Azalea took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the flames before stepping into the flames repeating the address her father had just given.

She whirled around and around and quickly became dizzy and started to cough. The ash was atrocious this early in the morning because very few people had ventured out of their homes yet. As she saw fireplaces whizzing by, she caught the usual glimpses of kitchen tables, sofas, and ankles. Although it felt like forever, it was actually only a matter of seconds before she stopped in the fireplace of a rather dull looking office and stepped into the room, still coughing slightly. Her father stepped out right behind her and quickly cleared his throat before reaching to shake the hand of the person siting behind the desk, presumably the President.

"President McCary," he said.

The president replied, "Mr. Cartwright. And this must be your daughter."

"Yes sir."

"An interesting choice; moving your children all over the world instead of relying on our own schools."

"Yes, you would see it that way. Do you have the papers to sign?"

"Of course." The president shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk, pulling one from the pile and placing it in from of Mr. Cartwright. "You know the drill. Sign on the line and have Miss. Cartwright sign below." Mr. Cartwright scanned the paper before taking the quill from the president and signing his name at the bottom. "Miss. Cartwright, I know you've heard this several times, because I've told you this once myself already. While you are studying outside our country, you are a representative of American wizardry but you are subject to all of the resident country's laws. While at Hogwarts, I expect you to be on your best behavior because if you get into trouble with the British Ministry, I shudder to think of the paperwork it would involve for me."

"Yes sir." Azalea took the quill from her father and signed where he indicated. "Thank you sir."

President McCary nodded, taking the paper and placing it on the top of another stack. "Your luggage had been sent ahead."

Mr. Cartwright turned and pulled a jar from the mantle, taking a pinch of the powder inside for himself and handing the jar tpo his daughter for her to take some. Stepping into the flames, he said, "British Ministry of Magic—Foreign services." Azalea followed his example and soon she was stepping out of another fireplace, coughing again.

They were greeted by a short wizard with an odd little goatee. "Right this way, " he said as he directed them towards a desk. The large room was mostly empty, the only other inhabitants being a Chinese couple sitting at a desk across from a witch in bright purple robes. "We are delighted to see you again Mr. Cartwright," continued the wizard. "And this must be your daughter."

They all sat down at the desk and the wizard located the appropriate paperwork. "Ahh!" he said. "Going to Hogwarts? That's a fine school. Never seen a foreign student transfer in before though. Oh well. All the paperwork seems to be in order. Read these pages please and sign at the bottom."

The wizard handed Azalea several pages and turned to her father to discuss something else. She looked down at the pages and resisted the urge to groan. This was longer than the ones for the other schools. As she read about the ban on magic carpets and about how wizards and witches under 17 were not allowed to use magic outside of class, she could help thinking that as great as this could be, it could also be a pain. How would the other students react to her?

Azalea finished reading the last sentence (_And remember, as a foreign student, we want you to be as happy as possible, so follow the rules, stay safe, and ask the Ministry for help if you need it—that's what we're here for!_) and looked up. The wizard hander her a quill and she signed her name next to the phrase 'I promise to obey all rules and guidelines listed above and agree to submit to any punishment deemed necessary by the Ministry of Magic if they are not followed' and again next to the phrase 'I also agree to submit to any additional testing or assessments required by the Ministry due to my position as a foreign student'. She then handed the paperwork and quill back to the wizard. Smiling, he took them and stood up.

"Very good. If you'll follow me please."

They traveled through hallways and lifts to a rather small office inhabited by a kind-looking witch. When they entered, she stood up and the wizard tipped his hat, turned on his heel, and left. Mr. Cartwright spoke quietly to the witch for several seconds, nodded, then came back to Azalea. "Azalea, are you alright from here? The Ministry will make sure you get where you need to go on time. I have a meeting in Ireland."

"Yeah. I'll be okay." Mr. Cartwright put his hand on her shoulder for a few minutes, then turned and walked out the door, leaving her alone with the witch.


	5. Chapter 5

Azalea pulled her locket out of her shirt and looked at the clock on the face of it. It read 6:40. She'd only been awake for 2 hours and 40 minutes, but she was in England now and that meant that it was actually 11:40 and she had to be at Hogwarts in 20 minutes. As soon as her father had left, the witch had pulled a file out of a drawer and led Azalea down the hallway to a room with a very large fireplace. She had then sat Azalea down in one of the many chairs in the room and explained that they only had a few minutes until the special access into Hogwarts would be granted. She's then left to go fetch them both some tea. Azalea didn't really like tea, but some of the excitement had started to wear off and she was getting rather nervous. She needed some time to think. And that was what she was doing now. Thinking.

Azalea was thinking about how weird it would be to be the only transfer student in a school with almost a thousand students. She was thinking about how awful it could be if the current students decided that they didn't like her. She was thinking how weird it would be not being in the same school as at least one of her brothers for the first time ever. Fortunately, she didn't have time to think about anything else because the witch came back with the tea. She wasn't alone though. Walking with her was a tall black wizard.

"Hello Miss Cartwright," he said, reaching out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic. I hear you'll be going to Hogwarts this year."

"Yeah," she said nervously, taking her tea from the witch (whose name was Susan, but Azalea had forgotten).

" I'd like to ask you a favor," he said. "A certain fourth year left this in his dorm last year and it needs to be returned to him. Please give this to Professor McGonagall and tell her it's for Teddy Lupin and it's been properly… redesigned." He handed her a small box which he had taken out of the inside of his robes. "I'd take it myself, but I simply don't have the time."

"Okay," she said uncertainly. Kingsley Shacklebolt smiled and thanked her and turned to walk away.

"Don't worry," said the witch. "It can't hurt you. It'll only explode when the original owner touched it."

Azalea looked at the box as if it contained a ticking time bomb, which in reality it almost did and the witch chuckled as she sat down to drink her tea. Azalea sat back down as well and took a couple of sips before setting the teacup aside. She glanced at her watch again. Almost 11:50.

A paper airplane flew into the room quite suddenly at 11:56 when Azalea had been starting to feel quite nervous. It looked like it was going to hit the witch in strait in the head, but it stopped just short, hovering by her ear. She took it and unfolded it. "Good. The floo network has connected Hogwarts. You ready to go?"

"Yes. I think so. Do you know…never mind."

"Don't worry about it honey," the witch said comfortingly. "You're going to be fine. You're probably just going to get a tour and an introduction to the teachers."

Azalea nodded numbly, nervousness having finally overtaken her enthusiasm completely.

"Come on." The witch said. They both stood up and went to the fireplace and the witch threw a handful of powder in. She then took Azalea's hand and pulled her into the fireplace, saying, "Headmistress's office, Hogwart's school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

And through the floo network she went again, zipping and whirling, and spinning. Thankfully, it was the middle of the day here in England and the traffic had cut down on some of the ash that accumulates overnight.

"You're early," said Professor McGonagall calmly as Azalea and the witch stepped out of the fireplace in the circular office that Azalea had been in with her father not too long ago.

"Yes, maybe by a minute or two. Umm… The … Minister… asked me to give this to you. He said it was for a…Teddy Lupin. He said to tell you that it had been properly… well, I think he said redesigned." Azalea handed the package to the headmistress, who nodded a thanks to indicate acceptance and understanding.

The witch who had accompanied her smiled at McGonagall and asked, "Do you mind?" gesturing to the urn of floo powder on the mantle. McGonagall shook her head and the witch took a pinch to return to the ministry. As soon as she was gone, there was a knock at the door of the office.

"Come in Filius," McGonagall said. When the door opened, Azalea was shocked. She tried not o let it show, but the man who entered was the shortest wizard she had ever seen. His white hair was rather untidy, but he looked rather neat otherwise. His size was very strange to Azalea though. He was less than 3 feet tall!

"You must be our newest student!" said the wizard in a voice slightly higher than she was used to hearing. "Welcome to the Ravenclaw house!" He held out his hand. "Professor Flitwick."

Azalea shook his hand and recovering, responded, "I'm happy to be here Professor."

"Good, good."

Professor McGonagall rose from her seat behind her desk and said, "Professor Flitwick is both your charms professor and your head of house. He'll be showing you the castle. Did you get all of your supplies?"

"Yes. I got everything. The person at the Agency said my things would be sent ahead."

"Good. The house elves will have taken them to your dormitory then."

"What about my cat? Will he be in the dormitory as well?"

"Yes, the house elves will have taken care of all of that."

"Okay."

"Shall we get on with the tour then?" asked Flitwick.

McGonagall nodded and sat back down behind her desk. Flitwick turned back toward the door and gestured for Azalea to follow.

As they were carried down by the moving staircase Professor Flitwick began to ask her all about herself. He said that he was always glad to see another student sorted into Ravenclaw, but he normally knew his students quite well by the time they were 6th years. She answered his questions as she followed him towards the Ravenclaw tower. She explained that he reason she was here was that her father cared so much about her that he couldn't let her continue attending a school that didn't meet up to his standards, whether it was too small, offered strange classes, or not enough classes, had a teacher who in his opinion wasn't qualified, or was home to a student who was related to a person he didn't trust. She also told him about her brothers and her cat and about what she'd learned in her previous schools. He was really funny and joked with her as they talked.

They were on at least the fourth floor when they reached a spiral staircase and at the top of that was a door with a large bronze knocker in the shape of an Eagle. "This door leads into our house common room," he said. He have not need for passwords. When you want in, just knock." He nodded to her to go ahead.

The knocker spoke. "What is ancient as the Earth but new every month?"

"Answer the question," Flitwick said.

"Ummm… I'm not sure… Well, what's old as the Earth? Dirt? No. Other planets, sun, moon…New moon!" she exclaimed. "The moon is old, just like the Earth, but we have a "new moon" every month.

"Well answered," said the door as it swung open.

Flitwick beamed. "Well done! No one but a Ravenclaw has ever gotten into our tower without a Ravenclaw's help. Go one in."

Azalea stepped into the common room and looked around. There was a huge fireplace (unlit at the moment), lots of comfortable looking armchairs, and tons of tables and desks and lamps. The room was round and the walls were hung with mostly blue and bronze tapestries. On each side of the room were entrances to staircases. By one of them was a statue of a beautiful woman.

"As I said, this is the common room. You'll do most of your socializing here and probably a lot of studying as well. Most of your free time will be spent in this room." Pointing to one of the staircases, he continued, "That staircase leads to the girls' dormitories. The other leads to the boys'. Go ahead."

She smiled and almost ran towards the stairs. Flitwick followed at a more leisurely pace. Three flights up there was a plaque that said _sixth years_ and there was a door to either side. Choosing the right one, she looked inside. There were 6 four-poster beds made up with blue comforters and hung with blue curtains. Azalea then looked through the left door. It was much the same, except this time, she saw her trunk at the end of one of the beds. X trotted up to her and began rubbing against her leg. She picked him up and walked over to the bed. Her trunk was at the end and there was a small set of drawers on either side with a lamp set on one of them. She sat down on the bed and scratched X's ears, setting him down beside her. Now that she was in the room, she could see that there was also an area to the far left with a large rug, a table, a couch and several chairs, bookshelves, and a large window.

Just as the stood up to investigate further, the door was opened by Professor Flitwick. "Oh! I'm so sorry Professor! I got distracted."

"I know," said Flitwick. "It's perfectly understandable. What do you think?"

"It's wonderful! There's just a bit of a problem though."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's just, well, where are the bathrooms?"

"Up," he responded. "Personally, I think it's a major flaw in the design of this castle, but the bathrooms are at the very top of the towers. Six floors up. Is this the cat you were telling me about?"

"Yeah," she answered. "That's X."

Flitwick was now rubbing the cat's ears and he seemed very appreciative. "If you're ready, we can go see the upper floors."

"Yeah, definitely!" They left the dorm and went up the stairs. Up, and up, and up. At the eighth floor, there was an unlabeled door. Opening it, Azalea found not a bathroom, but a room that was entirely lined with bookshelves, most of which were already full. There were lots of high windows letting sunshine light the room and the floor was covered with rugs. There were lots more tables and chairs and another door which she assumed led to the boy's dormitory since this room was again circular and only a little smaller than the common room on the lower level.

"For homework and studying," explained Professor Flitwick. "Ravenclaws are known for their academic success, but it doesn't come naturally to everyone. There are study groups and tutoring all organized within the house. And don't worry. You'll get used to the stairs. There's also a useful little charm you can learn so you can hover just above the stairs, but it takes almost as much energy, so most students don't bother."

Azalea climbed one more flight of stairs and entered the bathroom. There was a line of stalls on one wall and a line of sinks and mirrors on another. Lockers adorned a third. The forth wall was covered mostly by one large mirror, but several doors led into a separate area full of individual showers and baths, each surrounded by curtains, probably with water-repellant charms on them.

She climbed back down the stairs to find Professor Flitwick waiting for her. "Ready to see the rest of the castle?"

Professor Flitwick showed her the classrooms for all the classes she'd be taking and showed her where his office was, telling her that she was welcome whenever she had a problem, or was feeling down, or just wanted to talk. He also showed her the library and told her that she'd probably be spending a lot of time there too. As they went, he pointed out things of interest when they passed them. For example, he pointed out other teachers' offices and classrooms and particularly interesting paintings and the trick doors and stairs. And when he realized that she wasn't really likely to remember much, h conjured up a map. Pointing out the window, he showed her the forbidden forest, the greenhouses, the quidditch pitch, and Hagrid's hut. It was about four when they returned to the Entrance Hall and he asked if she was hungry.

"A little," she replied.

He then showed her the great hall very briefly and led her down to the kitchens. She had never seen so many house elves in one place before and it looked like they were preparing a feast! Of course with a thousand mouths to feed, even the smallest of meals would appear to be a feast. The house elves wanted nothing more than to please them and quickly brought out a plate of sandwiches and a pot of tea, which was set on one of the large tables that seemed to mirror those in the Great Hall above. Once they'd eaten (and had their pockets stuffed full of cakes and biscuits they just couldn't refuse) Professor Flitwick asked her if she'd like to change into uniform before or after meeting the other teachers. They agreed that it would be better to change before, so she used her map to navigate back to the tower and climbed the stairs to her dormitory.

She pulled her new school robes (the dullest uniforms yet—I mean, black? Come on?) and also found the skirt, shirtwaist, and hat that went with it. The hat was a bit much too. She couldn't help but think when she first saw it that it was no wonder muggles always pictured witches wearing the ugliest hats imaginable. At Hogwarts, they really did. However, she donned the uniform (except the hat, which she stuffed in a pocket for the time being), put her wand in the inside pocket, and made sure the map was where she could find it. When she looked in the mirror, she admired the improvement her colorful tights and cute boots made to the overall outfit. Her earrings helped too. It was still bland though.

She looked at her watch and it read almost noon. Crud. She had to hurry if she was going to meet Flitwick at 5. She rushed down the stairs and used her map to get to the entrance hall, and from there, to the teacher's lounge. She wasn't sure what to expect here, but she saw Flitwick standing outside the door and put her map away, hoping he would direct the introductions and none of the teachers would decide to hate her for some arbitrary reason.


	6. Chapter 6

It actually hadn't gone that badly. It even went pretty well. And she remembered most of the professor's names. Professor Smith was most memorable. He was a very odd fellow who taught muggle studies. The Divination professor was kind of hot. She almost wished she was taking the class, but despite her talents with nonverbal and mystical forms of magic, Azalea had found that most professors who taught those kinds of subjects didn't actually know anything about them. Professor Longbottom seemed really nice. He taught herbology. Professor Vector, who taught Arithmancy, said he was looking forward to teaching her. Apparently not very many students chose it for their NEWTS. Azalea wasn't really sure what NEWTS were yet, but she had a feeling it had something to do with more advanced levels. Hagrid was glad to see her again, but was disappointed that she wasn't taking care of magical creatures. The others were harder to remember. When so much new information enters the brain at once, it's hard to keep track of it all.

However, with all of that stuff out of the way, Azalea was more nervous than ever. Whether the teachers liked her or not would affect her less than whether or not her classmates accepted her. And she was really hoping that they would. She wasn't asking for instant BFFs; she was just asking for them not to instantly reject her. It was really weird and super awkward waiting for them to get there. There were a couple others coming by floo, but not until the rest of the students arrived. So there she was, feeling weird, sitting on the marble staircase just waiting.

A ghost came along and talked for a few minutes. That was a nice distraction. She thought he said his name was Friar something. He was really friendly, but left shortly, saying he had somewhere to be. The most exciting (but also the least pleasant) encounter was with a poltergeist. He flew overhead and chucked pieces of chalk at her. Then he dropped a wastebasket on her and blew raspberries. The next ghost to float by was called Sir Nicholas something or other. He said that the poltergeist was called Peeves, which was sort of ironic, and that that sort of behavior was normal. He also told her to get the Bloody Baron if Peeves became too much trouble.

The ghosts didn't pass much time though and without knowing when the students would be arriving, she didn't want to risk going to do any more exploring. She thought about going to talk to the house elves, but she would have felt bad for disturbing them and distracting them from their work. After all, they must have had mountains of work to do with hundreds of children and teenagers flooding into the castle tonight. She looked at her watch again. 6:13. The teachers said that the students normally started arriving between 6 and 7:30. That wasn't much help. Normally in this kind of situation she would have accio-ed a book or something, but she was a little frightened of using magic without permission while she was still the only underage person in the building. Instead, she decided to go up the stairs a ways and see if she could find an interesting paining to talk to. Not too far though.

Azalea took out her map again and began to cautiously walk up the stairs, making sure to be careful of trick steps.

"Hi," said a voice behind her. Turning, Azalea saw someone who looked close to her age at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hello," she replied uncertainly. The boy had dark curly hair and a slightly windblown look, as if he'd just come in from outside.

"I don't think I've seen you before," he said, "which is weird because you don't look like a first year, and I've attending this school for six years now. What's your name?"

"Azalea." She thought that it would probably be polite to go back down the stairs and talk to the boy on his level, but she was rooted to the spot. Unfortunately, as she had turned, she had placed her foot directly into the trick stair she'd been so carefully avoiding."

"Hmm… You a fifth year?"

"Uh, no. Sixth."

The boy seemed to have noticed her plight and was coming towards her. "You ought to be more careful. Everyone knows where those steps are. Well, except for Professor Longbottom. I'm Fredrick by the way. Seventh year. I'm in Hufflepuff." He took her hand and pulled. Her foot came out of the step, but she fell right into him.

"Oooh. Sorry. Ravenclaw. I'm new this year."

"Really? Wow." He helped her stand up and looked at her. "How'd that happen?"

"My dad's a bit of an ass."

Obnoxious parents huh? That's not too uncommon. Your accent is though. We don't get too many yanks here."

"Yeah, I bet." She brushed off her robes and bent down to retie a boot lace which had come undone. She then took her wand out of her robe pocket and stuffed it into the boot. Fredrick raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting spot," he commented. "Aren't you worried about blowing your foot off?"

"No."

"Hmm. How'd you get here? I just apparated in, but no one else seems to have arrived yet, so I think I can safely assume you didn't take the train."

"Floo powder. I got here a few hours ago."

"Well, do you want a tour? I could show you some of the less known areas of the school this weekend if you'd like." He scratched behind his ear, looking slightly nervous.

"That sounds great. I'd love to."

"Oh, cool. Sunday morning?"

"Sure."

"Okay then. What classes do you have?"

They sat down on the steps (far away from the trick one) and began to talk. They talked about classes, and which teachers gave the easiest or most horrible homework and about Hogsmead and the things kids normally did on the weekends.

"You ever played quidditch?" he asked.

"A couple times," she replied, "but I'm an expert at quodpot."

"Quodpot?"

"Yeah, it started out as quidditch, but the quaffle, called the quod, explodes if you don't get it into the cauldron in time. Eventually, the quod explodes on every player and the game is over."

"Sounds complicated. You should try out for your house quidditch team though. I'm sure you'd catch on fast. Or, if you're really into things exploding on you, you could join the gobstones club." They both laughed pretty hard at that. Gobstones. I mean, no one plays that anymore.

Just then, there was the sound of movement and voices outside the castle and the huge doors to the entry hall burst open, letting in hundreds of slightly damp students. _It must be raining now_, she thought. Fredrick grabbed her hand and pulled her into the throng of people, hailing some of his friends and introducing them. She didn't have friends in her own house yet, but at least some people seemed to think she was all right. Everyone started to go into the Great Hall which was hung with the house colors and filled with lots of floating candles. Fredrick led her into the hall and they went towards the Ravenclaw table. This guy seemed to know everyone! In short order, Azalea met at least fifty people who were sitting down at the table, most of whom seemed delighted to see a new face. However, some of them were too distracted by hunger to care much at all. Fredrick left her in a seat surrounded by sixth and seventh years and wandered off to his own table where he began to talk with more people. She wondered if he was talking about her.


	7. Chapter 7

_So here's the next chapter. This is the seventh one. Three people are following this story, and I've gotten over a hundred and thirty views, but nobody has reviewed it. I'd gladly take any suggestions either for improving the existing story of for what you'd like to happen next. I know that reviewing takes effort, but it's really less than 30 seconds of your life and I'd really appreciate it. Even if it's just 'I like it!' or 'I don't like this part.' Anything helps. Thanks guys!_

_Also, I'd really like to know how you all like my sorting hat song. It took a while to write out._

* * *

She didn't get the chance to dwell on those thoughts for long. She turned back to face her house mates to answer at least a couple of the questions they were throwing at her, most of which were about her classes, in this school and in her last ones.

"Professor Goddrick was a real pain. Instead of teaching us about legimency, he just randomly performed it on us to see if we could fend him off then told us to practice on each other."

"Wow!" said a red-headed girl across the table, "I wish Hogwarts offered classes in occlumency and legimency!"

"Yeah," said a blond boy a couple seats down from her. "I've always wanted—"

Hargrid led a row of shivering first-years into the room through a side door and one of the professors brought in a three-legged stool which he sat down on the center of the raised teacher's platform. On the stool, was the ragged looking hat which Azalea had had to try on a few weeks ago. She was definitely glad that she didn't have to do it in front of all these people. A rip at the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing.

_Now you all know the starting_

_ Of this famous school_

_Its walls were built on friendship_

_With foundation strong and true_

_Four friends were of a mind_

_That they must make their learning grow_

_And feed young brains so later_

_Great riches they could sow_

_They thought if great young wizards_

_And witches could become_

_Those of  
strength and learning_

_Whose great deeds could be sung_

_Then magic's future might_

_Just shine a little brighter_

_So they worked together _

_And their friendship; it grew tighter_

_But then they grew apart _

_And you all know the story_

_They did not know just who to teach_

_And they split up their glory_

_The four houses they were formed_

_And students found their places_

_And up till recent history_

_Hallways teemed with glowing faces_

_But then the very walls did glow_

_And turrets were aflame_

_The great battle of Hogwarts_

_In history burnt her name_

_Great enemies were defeated_

_Now listen, here's the reason_

_The students were united_

_A common goal was their adhesion_

_Though there's no enemy to fight_

_Coming from without_

_Again you seek to divide_

_So don't you ever doubt_

_Stick together, hold on tight_

_Be strong and then you'll see_

_That though you seek to argue_

_Benefits come to those who agree_

_Now I have spoke my warning_

_Try not to fall apart_

_Or again we'll be in trouble_

_And from these walls we may depart_

_Now let the sorting begin_

_I will pull you from the crowd_

_I'll peer into your head_

_And your place I'll say aloud._

Scattered clapping broke out among the teachers and students. Many people seemed to be looking around, wondering what it all meant. Azalea wasn't sure, but the houses didn't seem that separate. After all, Fredrick was a Hufflepuff. The professor who had brought out the stool and the hat then pulled a scroll out of his pocket and read the first name. "Adams, Jordan." The student stepped forward, visibly shaking and as the professor indicated, put on the hat and sat on the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted for the whole room to hear, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Great Hall erupted with cheering, most of which was coming from the Hufflepuff table which Jordan Adams ran to join once he'd put the hat back on the stool.

The whole list was read off and one by one the students found their places and sat at the four tables. Ravenclaw accumulated almost twenty new students, Gryffindor a few more than that, and Hufflepuff got more than thirty. Slytherin only added a handful to their ranks.

Azalea had heard some pretty nasty rumors about slytherins, but she couldn't understand why the house even existed if they were true. She also didn't understand why there were so many less of them than the rest of the houses. Their table looked almost abandoned.

The feast was wonderful. The food was magnificent; all of it was delicious and there was definitely plenty to go around. The house elves were to be congratulated. Azalea made a note to herself to do this as soon as she got the chance. Once the plates and dishes had all been magically cleared, the talking died down and Professor McGonagall stood up to speak.

"Mr. Filch would like me to remind you all that magic is _still_ not allowed between classes in the corridors. Also, several more items have been added to the list of forbidden objects. The full list of over 2000 banned and restricted items is hanging on the door to Mr. Filch's office. This list includes any and all merchandise sold at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The forbidden forest is off-limits to all students and no student is allowed outside of the castle walls after dark. The prefects will lead you all back to your common rooms. Have a good night." No one interrupted McGonagall while she spoke, but as soon as she sat down talking resumed and the sounds of the benches scraping against the floor filled the hall as people stood and moved towards the doors.

Azalea could hear the prefects from all the houses calling to first years to follow them. She let herself be pushed along by the crowd of Ravenclaws around her as they made their way up to the tower. Most of them seemed to be quite drowsy and only a few people were still carrying on conversations. Most of her insecurities had been washed away by the warm greeting she had received so far, but some still lingered. Would she actually make real friends or just acquaintances? Would she be able to keep up in class? What if she hadn't learned things that they already had? Would they resent her if she found that she was actually ahead? Arriving at the door to the common room jolted out of her negative thoughts.

The door to the tower was opened by the first students to arrive and had been left that way for those in the back. A few of the older students had sat down near the fire, but most had gone straight to their dorms. She followed suit, climbing the stairs quickly to the level where she knew her trunk was. When she opened the door, there were two girls already there. The room looked different with all of everyone else's stuff there. All of the beds' curtains had been pulled aside and the two girls in the room were putting things into the drawers by their own beds. The stopped their conversation when Azalea entered.

X meowed. "Is this your cat?" asked a girl with extremely curly brown hair. "He's absolutely adorable!"

"Yeah," she responded, walking to her bed and picking him up. "This is X." She noticed another cat, laying on one of the beds which were so far uninhabited.

"Your name's Azalea, right?" asked the other girl, who was blonde.

She nodded.

"Mine's Emily. I saw you down the table, but I didn't get to say hi."

The brown-haired girl chimed in, "I'm Samantha, but lots of people have taken it into their heads to call me Frizz. So how'd you end up here? I've never seen a transfer student before."

And so Azalea repeated a shortened version of the story she'd told earlier and did her best to answer their questions, as she unpacked some of her things. Four other girls, Maddie and Sophie (who were twins), Rebecca, and Clarice, came in while they were talking and one other came in after they'd all come back down from the bathrooms and crawled into bed. The other cat belonged to Rebecca. The others all seemed to have owls.

Azalea seemed to have been mostly accepted and the other girls promised to help her find her classes if she needed it and said that they'd introduce her to the other people in their year in the morning. She'd found out some things about them too. Apparently Maddie and Sophie were muggle-born and Rebecca was half-blood. Clarice's parents were both magical, but she was far from pure-blood. She had a younger sister in the second year, and a brother who was a fifth year Gryffindor. Rebecca's siblings were all muggles, but she had two cousins in Hufflepuff. Samantha was half-blood and her brother had graduated last year. Emily actually was pure-blood, but she said that her family didn't really care about that kind of thing and that her parents were together because they wanted to be, not because they were both pure-blood. That was really similar to her family's views.

She laid in bed thinking for quite a while. Hopping across time-zones definitely didn't help sleep habits. When she finally fell asleep, Samantha was snoring. She didn't remember any of her dreams.

* * *

_Hey guys, this story isn't grabbing a whole lot of attention, so if you like it, give me a review. It's not that I'm purposely holding out on you. The thing is, I've got a bit of writer's block and I'm not sure where to go from here. So, I'll post the next chapter as soon as I get an idea, but if you'd like to see one sooner, send me some feedback. Tell me what you want to see happen!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay, so here's chapter 8. I'm still not happy with it. At all. But I feel like I've kept you waiting long enough and it's time to move on. It may be a while till the next chapter, but it will be coming! And I promise a bit of excitement soon!_

* * *

Azalea woke to the familiar sound of her alarm clock and felt X kneading her chest. Without opening her eyes yet, she swung her hand toward the noise and hit the snooze button. She smiled a little and opened her eyes to stroke X's head. She scratched him behind his ears and then rolled onto her side to look at the clock. 6:31. Gently shoving X aside and pushing back her covers, she looked to the window and saw the sun just beginning to rise, with a warm pink brushing the clouds. Her roommates were in various stages of waking. Three of them were already gone, presumably to the bathroom. Maddie and the girl she hadn't yet met were still huddled under their blankets. Rebecca was gathering her clothing for the day, and Clarice was organizing books and things, but was still in pajamas.

Making sure her alarm clock was actually off, Azalea sat up and got out of bed. Some of the girls had closed the curtains around their beds for the night, but that made Azalea feel very isolated and just a little claustrophobic, so she'd decided not to. That came with the added bonus of not getting tangled in the things when waking up. She stretched a little, ran her hands through her hair, yawned, and started grabbing her clothing. She needed a shower-even if it was only for five or ten minutes.

Mumbling greetings of good morning as she left the dorm, she bounded up the stairs. She still had to get all her school stuff organized this morning and she needed to be in the Great Hall no later than 8:30. When she stepped out of the shower, she wrapped herself in her own soft towel and went to put in her contacts. She then combed out her tangled mess of hair and put it in a braid before going back to her shower area to get dressed. She pulled on black tights, her uniform skirt and a pale blue top. Then she put on her favorite belt, pulled on her school robes and laced up her boots, whose pale blue-grey color contrasted nicely with the tights. She quickly used her wand to dry the towel before putting it back in her locker and then stuck the wand into the side of her left boot. She put on her make-up rather hurriedly then pulled her locket watch over her head. She loosed her hair from its braid and shook it out, making a second-year behind her flinch. She looked at her reflection carefully in the mirror for a few seconds before deciding to leave it down.

She practically jumped back down the stairs. When she got back to her dorm, her clock said 7:48. She only paused for a moment to watch X getting acquainted with the other cat before throwing open her trunk and locating her book bag. Emily was also getting things organized in her bag, so Azalea asked her if she knew what books they'd need.

"You don't need to bring books down to the Great Hall," she replied. "Once you get your schedule, you can just summon the ones you need."

Azalea thanked her and proceeded by adding several rolls of parchment, a couple of notebooks, and some quills, pencils, and ink to her bag. Following the lead of the others, she then took all of her books, textbook and not, over to the bookshelves, picked an empty shelf, and loaded them onto it. Finally, she put her brand new planner into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She was almost out the door when she remembered that she needed to feed X. However, when she searched for a can of cat-food in her trunk, she found a note which read, 'Do not worry Miss Cartwright. We elves have taken the liberty of providing food to your familiar. We will continue doing so if you like. He is very friendly.' It was signed, 'Nobby' and was written in rather childish handwriting. This brought a smile to her lips and she turned the note over. Pulling a pencil from her bag, she wrote. 'Thank you very much! I really appreciate it! The cat's name is X and if you need anything, just ask. –Azalea' She then placed the note back where she had found it and swinging her bag back over her shoulder and closing the trunk, she left the room and descended the stairs.

When she got to the common room, Azalea saw quite a few new faces and some familiar ones. Some students were sitting and talking and others were exiting the tower to go down to breakfast. He looked around and saw Emily and Samantha in a corner of the room. They looked up and excitedly waved her over. They were talking to a whole group of people and as soon as Azalea was near them, the two began making introductions. This was at least half of the sixth year Ravenclaws and she met a few seventh and fifth years too. She was fairly certain from the glances she saw between Emily and one of the seventh year boys, Erick, that if they weren't dating now, they would be soon.

It was definitely heartening to know that these people were comfortable enough around her to act normally and flirt and argue with each other.

Azalea walked down to breakfast with Emily and Samantha and a few others and she listened carefully as they gossiped, attempting to gather any useful information she could. When they entered the Great Hall, it was about half full. Nobody looked up when they entered, not that she expected them to, and before sitting at the Ravenclaw table, Azalea glanced hopefully over to the Hufflepuffs. She was disappointed, however. Fredrick wasn't there. When all the owls swept into the room and over the tables, Azalea was only a little shocked. She was, in fact, much more surprised that one of the birds landed in front of her, carrying a small package. She thought she recognized it as James' new owl. That was confirmed when she looked at it and asked, "Harriet?" and was answered with a confirmative hoot. She removed the small package from its leg and the barn owl helped itself to her oatmeal and pumpkin juice, which she didn't much like anyways, before taking off again.

A couple of people looked over to see what was in her package as she began to open it and when Samantha asked, "So, what is it?" she responded with, "How am I supposed to know?"

It was a book. She didn't pay much attention to it, but instead grabbed the note which was resting on top.

_Hey Azalea,_

_Sorry for the less than enthusiastic send-off. I was so tired that I forgot all about the gift I was going to give you. You were long gone by the time I finally woke up, so I sent it with Harriet here. _

_Anyway, on to the good stuff. Since this is going to be your first year at school without any of your big brothers to protect you, I'm handing down this marvelous book. And I know you aren't very fond of books as gifts, but don't throw it away until you hear me out. I've been to just as many schools as you have, and I've seen lots of different types of teachers, staff, homework, ect. The point is, I wrote down all that I learned. Charlie and G helped, but it was my idea. You're my favorite sibling (don't tell G or Charlie. Feel free to tell Carson.), and I didn't want your last years of school to be miserable. Anyway, the book is divided into sections: __**Types of Teachers and How to Handle Them**__, __**The Janitor and Groundskeepers**__, __**Helpful Homework Hints**__, __**How to Fit In Fast**__, __**The Tricks to Navigating New Hallways**__, __**Getting Around Anti-Muggle Nonsense**__, and saving the best for last, __**The Best of all Tricks, Jokes, and Pranks**__, and__** How to Stay Out of Detention**__. Everything in here is priceless. Feel free to sell it out though. It is useful information and it's always great to make a profit. _

_Also, if the answers you seek aren't in the book, open it to the inside of the back cover, tap it with your wand, and say my full name. That will contact me directly. Keep in mind though, I'm still in medical school and I might not be able to answer you if I'm in class. I also have to sleep occasionally. _

_Good Luck,_

_-James_

Looking up from the letter, Azalea was grinning. This could be a total failure, but even if it was, it was the thought that counts, right? And it might actually be really useful. Of course she'd never tell her two eldest brothers this—she might tell Carson-, but James was her favorite sibling too. They'd always been closer to each other than to their other siblings. "So, what is it?" her classmates demanded.

Quickly thinking up a lie, she replied, "James took G's diary and sent it to me." Looking up at their confused looks, she explained. "Sorry, James and G are two of my brothers." She got mumbled indications of understanding and some nods as people turned back to their plates.

"What does G stand for?" asked Maddie.

Azalea grinned again as she put the letter back into the top of the box and replaced the lid. "Gerbert." Most of the students around her chuckled and she returned to what was left of her breakfast, delicately ignoring the remaining oatmeal and pumpkin juice.


End file.
